Conventional mounting assemblies may not be designed to allow one mounting means to accommodate different types of light fixture mounting, e.g., surface mounting, recessed can mounting, junction box mounting, etc. Further, conventional mounting assemblies may require a customer to use one or more mounting/installation tools and/or to have the know-how to use those installation tools for mounting a light fixture to a mounting surface. This may prove to be inconvenient to the customer.
Furthermore, conventional mounting assemblies may not be designed to flexibly fit a light fixture within housings (e.g., recessed cans or junction boxes) having differently sized nominal diameter openings. For example, one mounting assembly may be designed to fit the light fixture within a recessed can having a six inch nominal diameter opening. However, the same mounting assembly may not be suitable for mounting the light fixture within a recessed can having a five inch nominal diameter opening. Accordingly, two different mounting assemblies may have to be designed, i.e., one to fit the light fixture within the recessed can having the five inch diameter opening and another to fit the light fixture within the recessed can having the six inch diameter opening. The inability of the conventional mounting assemblies to flexibly fit a light fixture within housings having differently sized openings and/or to allow different types of light fixture mountings may increase the number of stock keeping units (SKUs) which may be inconvenient for a manufacturer and/or a distributor. Also, the increased number of SKUs may increase the product cost for the end user (customer).
Additionally, conventional mounting assemblies may not allow post-mounting adjustment of the light fixture in order to align the light fixture as desired by the customer. Such post-mounting adjustment of the light fixture may be beneficial while mounting a light fixture that has a non-circular form factor. For example, a light fixture having a square form factor may have to be adjusted after installation to align the edges of the light fixture with the edges of a room in which the light fixture is installed. The inability of the conventional mounting assemblies to allow post-mounting adjustment may limit the shape and type of light fixtures that may be mounted using the conventional mounting assemblies.
In light of the above mentioned deficiencies, there remains a need for a mounting assembly that can accommodate different types of mountings and can provide flexibility of mounting light fixtures having different form factors within housings (e.g., recessed can, junction box, etc.) of different sizes and/or shapes. Further, there remains a need for a mounting assembly that that minimizes the requirement for tools or provides toolless mounting of light fixtures.